There is provided a technique that includes: (a) loading a substrate including a base and a first film containing silicon and formed on the base into a process container; (b) converting a modifying gas containing helium into plasma to generate reactive species of helium; and (c) supplying the modifying gas containing the reactive species of helium to a surface of the substrate to respectively modify the first film and an interface layer of the base constituting an interface with the first film.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising: (a) loading a substrate including a base and a first film containing silicon and formed on the base into a process container; (b) converting a modifying gas containing helium into plasma to generate reactive species of helium; and (c) supplying the modifying gas containing the reactive species of helium to a surface of the substrate to respectively modify the first film and an interface layer of the base constituting an interface with the first film, wherein in (c), a total thickness of the first film after modification and the interface layer whose composition has been changed by modification is adjusted by a ratio (B/A) of a flow rate B of an oxidant or a nitriding agent supplied into the process container to a flow rate A of a helium gas supplied into the process container.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first film before modification has a thickness that allows the reactive species of helium to spread into the first film throughout a thickness direction of the first film, and that allows the reactive species of helium to reach the interface layer through the first film.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the thickness of the first film before modification is 10 nm or less.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first film before modification has a film density that allows the reactive species of helium to spread into the first film throughout a thickness direction of the first film, and that allows the reactive species of helium to reach the interface layer through the first film.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the film density of the first film before modification is 3.00 g/cm3 or less.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein in (c), the total thickness of the first film after modification and the interface layer whose composition has been changed by modification does not increase beyond a total thickness of the first film before modification and the interface layer before the composition of the interface layer is changed by modification.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein in (c), an increase amount of a thickness of the interface layer whose composition has been changed by modification relative to the thickness of the interface layer before the composition of the interface layer is changed by modification does not exceed a decrease amount of a thickness of the first film after modification relative to the thickness of the first film before modification.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first film is a silicon oxide film, and wherein a gas containing the helium gas and the oxidant is used as the modifying gas.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein in (c), the first film is oxidized to allow a composition of the first film to approach a stoichiometric composition of silicon oxide.
10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the interface layer before modification is a silicon layer, and wherein in (c), the interface layer is modified into a silicon oxide layer.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first film is a silicon nitride film, and wherein a gas containing the helium gas and the nitriding agent is used as the modifying gas.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein in (c), the first film is nitrided to allow a composition of the first film to approach a stoichiometric composition of silicon nitride.
13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the interface layer before modification is a silicon layer, and wherein in (c), the interface layer is modified into a silicon nitride layer.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein in (c), the total thickness of the first film after modification and the interface layer whose composition has been changed by modification is equal to a total thickness of the first film before modification and the interface layer before the composition of the interface layer is changed by modification.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein in (c), an increase amount of a thickness of the interface layer whose composition has been changed by modification is equal to a decrease amount of a thickness of the first film after modification.
16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the total thickness is adjusted to increase by increasing the ratio (B/A) in (c).
17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the total thickness is adjusted to decrease by decreasing the ratio (B/A) in (c).
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
September 13, 2019
August 3, 2021
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